Nuclear evacuation plan is lacking for Limerick

At a congressional hearing on evacuation plans for Limerick Nuclear Plant in 1980, PECO said emergencies that require evacuation will not occur, despite the fact that an evacuation had already been ordered for TMI’s partial meltdown in 1979.

During the same meeting, NRC said the population density around Limerick was already double the number NRC deemed safe for evacuation and under NRC regulations in place in 1980, Limerick should not be licensed.

And, here we are again, as NRC plans to relicense Limerick while ignoring a population density in the greater Philadelphia Region that has doubled since 1980, making it four times higher than what was considered safe back then. There is clearly no safe way to evacuate.

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It seems as though NRC values Exelon’s profits over the future of the entire Philadelphia region. Why isn’t NRC protecting public health and safety? Limerick is a degrading facility. Its operations could result in radiation accidents and/or meltdowns with catastrophic consequences that would never end.

Compounding the risks we face, there is no safe way to deal with Limerick’s high-level radioactive wastes. For every year of Limerick operations, two tons of this deadly waste are added to Limerick’s fuel pools and meltdowns can occur in fuel pools. The radioactive consequences could be far greater than the accident at Chernobyl in 1986 with its tremendous dead zone and over a million cancers documented to date. Effects are ongoing.

We believe that, based on what we continue learning about the devastation from Fukushima’s meltdowns, that it is time for the NRC to honor its mission statement to protect people and the environment. In Japan, regulators and the nuclear industry had too cozy a relationship, which contributed to the Fukushima disaster. The same cozy relation exists between NRC and Exelon!

While “protecting people and the environment” is the comforting mission statement of NRC, its regulation of Limerick operations has been, for the most part, cosmetic. The current regulatory framework gives an illusion of safety that does not exist.

We recently reviewed Exelon’s December 2012 unrealistic computer-generated “Evacuation Time Estimate.” It would be laughable, if it wasn’t so tragic.

As longtime residents of this area, we encourage all local, state and federal officials to reject Exelon’s unworkable, unprotective and irresponsible evacuation plans and to contact NRC to close Limerick before we have a radiation accident or meltdown.

Learn more about Limerick Nuclear Plant evacuation from the new eight-part Video-Blog series at www.acereport.org.

If you want Limerick closed, contact ACE today at 610-326-2387 or e-mail aceactivists@comcast.net and leave your name and contact information. Or call any local, state or federal official and let them know we need their help to close Limerick.

We also urge everyone to sign on to the “Emergency Enforcement Petition” filed March 21,2013. This petition asks NRC to revoke operating licenses of Mark II reactors like Limerick Nuclear Plant that are in violation of license conditions for safe operation and reliable containment. To review the entire petition go to www.beyondnuclear.org